THE CZECH PROBLEM

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 60, 8 September 1938, Page 27

THE CZECH PROBLEM

NEW GERMAN PROPAGANDA

Itis pointed outin London that'the conversations ; between Lord Halifax and M. Bonnet in Paris do not*arise out of any prearranged agenda but out of the European" situation as such,, and, to some extent, but of the mission to London of Captain Wiedemanh, ■ Herr Hitler's adjutant, who saw Lord HaliL fax and discussed with him the ques- . tion of Czechoslovakia, writes the diplomatic correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian." For Germany it is essential to know the degree of interest which Great Britain takes in the Central European problem—that is to vsay,, in the independence of Czechoslovakia within her present frontiers. But Gdrman/diplomacy pursues a further, though secondary, .•- purpose. German pressure oh .Czechoslovakia goes on with a view to promoting the disintegration of ; the Czechoslovak State by every means short of, actual warfare. Whether warlike means shall be employed or not will depend on the- British attitude—or,. rather, on what Herr Hitler imagines the British attitude to be. THE GERMAN TACTICS. Germany is trying to minimise the importance of the Czech problem in British eyes. She is endeavouring to convince this country that the prospect of an understanding between a nation of 70,000,000,. like the Germans, and the great British Commonwealth ought not to be endangered by. a paltry 7,000,000 of Czechs—German propaganda -is,' always <careful to treat the Slovaks as though-they were a national minority of the same kind ,ss the Sudeten Germans and the Hungarians, Poles, and Ruthenians of Czechoslovakia. In this way the attempt is being made to obscure the seriousness of the problem of Czechoslovakian independence, which is the essence of the whole Central European problem. The fact that the Czechs number only seven millions is irrelevant. What, matters is that/Czechoslovakia within,her present frontiers happens to be one of the main props of the European order. If she were situated anywhere else than where she is the concern felt over her destiny here would be no more than academic or, at best, humanitarian. But, being situated where she is, her continued existence as an independent sovereign State within her present frontiers —and other frontiers are for strategic reasons impossible—. is essential to the balance of power in ; Europe. To argue that she does not matter because she is not as big as Germany^ or that the Czechs are not worth troubling about because they only number seven millions, would be like .arguing that Belgium does not matter because she is only a small nation. In memory of ,the Duchess of Bedford, who disappeared so tragically in her aeroplane, the Duke is to give Woburn Church a window.